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There Are No Accidents: Using Superstition To Persuade |
By:
Kenrick Cleveland |
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There Are No Accidents: Using Superstition To Persuade
Kenrick Cleveland
'Very superstitious, writing's on the wall Very superstitious, ladders bout' to fall Thirteen month old baby, broke the lookin' glass Seven years of bad luck, the good things in your past
When you believe in things that you don't understand Then you suffer Superstition ain't the way' --Stevie Wonder, 'Very Superstitious'
Here's a great superstition from our culture: someone sneezes, we say 'God bless you'. Why? This started in the Middle Ages when it was thought that the devil would hop right into your body in moments when we were unguarded, as in the case of the sneeze. Saying these three simple words, 'God bless you', immediately after the sneeze, assured there would be no unfortunate demonic possession.
Here's another good one. . . there is no thirteenth floor in many high rise buildings. You can walk right up one flight from twelve to fourteen. Why? There's a common fear called triskaidekaphobia. . .fear of the number thirteen. Superstition.
How about walking under a ladder? Does anyone really know where this superstition came from? Not really. But we avoid it. Maybe out of practicality (not wanting something to drop on our heads) but how is it considered "bad luck" if we do? Well, this one dates back to early Christianity. The ladder, the ground, and whatever the ladder is leaning up against. . . this was thought to be like the Holy Trinity and walking through/under violated this putting you on par with the devil.
I have an acquaintance who believes all religion and spirituality is superstition. I happen to think he's wrong, but I appreciate the perspective in that it's just another example of how framing is a powerful tool for looking at the world around us.
Superstition is defined as 'an irrational belief that an object, action, or circumstance not logically related to a course of events influences its outcome.'
Even Helen Keller's assertion that, "Security is mostly a superstition. It does not exist in nature.... Life is either a daring adventure or nothing," is an example of how diverse we all are, and yet, we all believe in something irrational.
With all this information about superstition, how can we use our prospect's and client's beliefs (irrational beliefs, especially) to persuade them to buy or product or service?
We're living in unstable times and the world can be a scary place. The more unstable things become, the more people search out stability. They constantly look for ways to explain why. For persuasion purposes, you have the ability to offer an answer, an explanation, to help them make sense out of the specific part of their life that you're involved in.
We can not only help people look for reasons to support their decisions, but we can look to explain their reality and assign blame, if need be.
'There are no accidents' is a great term born of superstition, that we can use to persuade or clientle. Especially if our prospects have had problems in the past, we can use this term to indicate that, 'Yes, you've had problems in the past (with your agent, adviser, etc.), but those problems are over now and we live in an infinitely wise universe where there are no accidents. You ended up with me for a reason.'
Is this true and verifiable? No. Absolutely not. But will you be called on it? Unless you're trying to sell my acquaintance, the cynic, who views the world through the frame that everyone is superstitious except him, I seriously doubt it.
Kenrick Cleveland teaches strategies to earn the business of affluent clients using http://www.maxpersuasion.com/ persuasion. He runs public and private seminars and offers home study courses and coaching programs in http://www.maxpersuasion.com/ persuasion strategies. You can get a http://www.uberarticles.com/?id=37357&b=79 unique content version of this article.
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Article Source: http://www.statssheet.com/articles/article64737.html |
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